Attendees stand as national anthems of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are played. — SG photo by Mohannad SharawiBy Mohannad Sharawi Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Students of the Pakistan International School, Jeddah, gathered Saturday, at shaheed Benazir Bhutto auditorium of the school to observe the Kashmir solidarity day marked throughout the world on Feb. 5. Abdul Salik Khan, Consular General of Pakistan, and officials from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), attended the event. Expressing her gratitude over the participation of OIC representatives, Mrs. Sehar Karman, principal of the school, said the objective of the day is to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri people and express support to the Kashmiri community living here. “OIC is one of the strongest Muslim forums that represents the collective voices of all the Muslims around the globe,” she said. “The meeting highlights not only the core issue of Kashmir, but helps to create awareness among the students about OIC that has 57 member states.” The agenda of the meeting, she said, is the issue of Jammu and Kashmir which is the oldest unresolved issues of the world. “Every year on Feb. 5, the Kashmir Solidarity Day is observed across the world to express support to the struggling people of Kashmir.” she said. She said that the media has a significant role in promoting our stance on Kashmir to serve our national causes. “The government and the people of Pakistan have always attached highest importance to Kashmir and its people on account of historical, geological and cultural relationships,” Mrs Karman quoted a statement of Asif Ali Zardari, President of Pakistan. Thanking the OIC for sending Khalid Bader and other representatives from its department of political affairs, to attend the event, she said the day added a new page to the history of PISJ where the students could take an initiative to raise their voice on an OIC model. “Students are the future of our country and they are the architects of our nation who will be representing Pakistan globally in the future.” The school students presented the Special Session of the OIC Model Meeting highlighting the Kashmir Solidarity Day Cause. PISJ-ES is first among the Schools worldwide to represent the Model Meeting of OIC where the students represented some of the OIC Member States: Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Malaysia, Turkey, Niger, Bahrain, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, Palestine and Iran. The students included: Hassan farooq (Chairman of OIC), Hassan Alam (General Secretary), Narjis Premjee (United Nations) Mashael Kamran/Fatima Mohsin (Human Rights), Hafsa Khan, Jehanzeb Khan and Shoib Khalid (Media), Owais Zaheer, Rabia Shabeeh, Zahid Wisal, Ahsan Saeed, Danish Minahil, Javeria Rahman, Hamna Hasan, Ramsha Khan, Haifa Iftikhar, Nimra fatima, Hamza Munir, Shayan Zafar as representatives of member states. The OIC Model meeting was based on three sessions preceded by final resolutions drawn at the end. The essence of the resolutions was to call for a peaceful settlement of Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions, calls upon India to cease forthwith the gross and systemic human rights violations of the Kashmiri people, International human rights groups and humanitarian organizations should be allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir, OIC's recommendations should be implemented expeditiously contained in the OIC Missions led by Ambassador Ezzat Kamel Mufti and allow OIC Fact Finding Mission to visit Jammu and Kashmir. At the end of the session of the OIC model meeting, the PISJ-ES students as media representatives took the views of the distinguished guests. The guests shared their views that it will help raise awareness of the Kashmir issue and it is a landmark resolution of OIC and all efforts will be made to implement the resolution. The students in the role of representatives of OIC member states, human rights, United Nations and media shared their views in a commendable manner magnificently. The program also included presentations of students Mashael Kamran and Fatima Mohsin and tribute paid by Wania Jibran to Kashmiri brothers in the song, “Aye Kashmir”.
